Lagarde to U.S.: 'You have to honor your signature'

10/13/13 11:03 AM EDT

Christine Lagarde is issuing a stern warning to the United States over its looming debt ceiling deadline: “You have to honor your signature.”

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund urged a swift end to the standoff over raising the debt limit before Thursday, when the Treasury Department has said the government will exhaust its borrowing authority.

“You have to give certainty to the rest of the world,” Lagarde said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” explaining that top economists believe a failure to raise the U.S. debt limit could spark a global recession.

“Creative accounting is not the solution, and markets know that,” she said, knocking conservative Republicans in Congress who’ve said the U.S. could avoid defaulting on its debt obligations by prioritizing debt payments.